Tom Robinson Band
TRB
History
Adapted from an
article by Steve Gardner
for NKVD
Online
and featured in
2004 liner notes for
Power In The Darkness
and TRB TWO
All you kids that
just sit and whine
You shoulda been there
back in '79
THE WINTER OF '79
Well and good, but
what about 1977 and
1978? That's when
the Tom Robinson Band
were in their real
heyday; a time when
TRB were as widely
publicized and admired
among new music fans
as bands like the
Jam and the Clash.
Forget about the Winter
of '79 for a minute;
in the summer of 1978
there were two albums
for me; the Jam's
"This Is The
Modern World"
and TRB's "Power
In The Darkness".
I played these two
records relentlessly
until they were totally
worn out and I had
to get new copies
of both. To this day
I rate them both among
the top ten records
ever.
Of all the politically
oriented punk bands
of the era - the Clash,
Stiff Little Fingers,
Gang Of Four, and
whoever else you want
to name - none was
more political than
TRB. Robinson's lyrics
burned with apocalyptic
visions of coming
revolution and they
seethed with real
anger and resentment
over injustices of
all sorts. Robinson
understood class distinctions
and his suspicion
of the ruling class
at times neared what
today seems like a
pitch of paranoia,
but in England, 1977,
seemed all too believable.
But it wasn't just
words that made TRB
songs so great. The
tunes were flat out
mind blowing. There's
nothing the Clash
ever did that can
claim any superiority
to tracks like "Up
Against The Wall",
"Long Hot Summer",
or "Don't Take
No For An Answer".
TRB songs powered
with the new found
fury of punk rock,
but also had a fine
musical touch. Danny
Kustow played searing,
blues influenced leads
but also knew when
to lay back and play
rhythmic fills. The
teenaged Mark Ambler
added dramatic flourishes
of rich Hammond organ,
trading licks with
Kustow in all the
lead breaks. The complementary
sounds of Kustow's
guitar and Ambler's
keyboards were perhaps
what made TRB stand
out the most.
Dolphin Taylor was
one of the most solid
drummers around with
a propensity for thundering
rolls that heightened
the drama of the songs.
"The band's engine
room", is how
Tom describes him.
"Usually drenched
in sweat by the second
number and too exhausted
to speak by the time
he staggered off stage
at the end of the
night. Dolphin also
provided a healthy
dollop of mockery,
good humor and common
sense." And while
Tom himself always
downplayed his bass
playing, he contributed
not a few very catchy
lines to their songs.
These guys were simply
above the bulk of
the field in ability.
Strangely, the band
appeared on the scene
as if from another
planet with the bouncy
hit single "2-4-6-8
Motorway", a
track that was about
as political as "Little
Deuce Coupe"
but had the kind of
rabble-rousing English
football song quality
that made people want
to shout along to
it whenever they heard
it. When the song
debuted in the UK
in the Autumn of 1977,
it went to the top
5 of the charts and
stayed there for over
a month. Newcomers
TRB were on the cover
of NME, Melody Maker,
Sounds and Record
Mirror almost before
they got to play their
own test pressings.
Robinson had begun
gigging in London
a year earlier with
a constantly shuffling
lineup of musician
friends backing him
and by the end of
the year, he decided
to put together a
permanent band. First
in was old friend
Danny Kustow, who
had known Tom for
years.
Then they ran small ads in the music papers looking for a bass player and drummer. At one audition, the hopeful prospect had hitched a ride with a friend of his who happened to be a drummer. As there was no one else to play drums, the friend sat in for the audition. At the end of the night, the prospect headed back to answer more ads, but Robinson had found his drummer in Brian (Dolphin) Taylor.
The
maddening search for
a bass player continued,
until one day 16 year
old Mark Ambler showed
up at an audition.
As soon as Ambler
plugged in and started
to play, it was clear
that this was their
man. A couple days
later, Mark let on
that he also played
keyboards. One listen
to Ambler playing
his Hammond organ
and Tom realised he
would have to be the
bass player himself.
Not what he wanted
to do, but he certainly
was serviceable at
it.
The band hit the club
scene right in the
middle of London's
punk explosion. Their
live shows drew rave
reviews, and in the
frenzy of major labels
looking to sign new
bands, TRB weren't
going to go unsigned
for long. Soon A&R
men were popping in
at all their gigs.
There was one small
problem - a song in
the band's set called
"Glad To Be Gay"
that is one of the
most convincingly
angry and sincere
performances you will
ever hear in all of
rock music. Even some
of the punk independents
who were supposed
to be willing to take
chances shyed away.
Stiff Records president
Jake Riviera called
them "fucking
queer music".
But EMI decided to
take the plunge and
signed up the band
for an alleged £150,000.
Maybe they felt they
needed to restore
credibility after
cutting loose the
Sex Pistols, or maybe
they felt more comfortable
with homosexuality
than with anarchy.
Who can say? But TRB
were on board and
off and running, and
for the next two years,
they would make the
most of their chance.
"Within nine
months we'd made the
transition from signing
on at Medina Road
dole office to Top
Of The Pops, Radio
One, EMI Records and
the giddy heights
of the front cover
of the New Musical
Express", is
how Robinson characterizes
the band's ascent.
Not everyone was impressed.
In Zig Zag, John Walters
reported on a TRB
show played to a packed
and ecstatic crowd
at the 100 Club and
said this about Robinson:
"He could be
the singer who brings
back talking records".
In Rolling Stone (describing
their song "Right
On Sister" in
a review of the first
TRB LP) Dave Marsh
said "This kind
of strident proselytizing
would be much better
off obscured by feedback."
And there was clear
jealousy from many
of the other punk
bands on the scene
at TRB's fairly meteoric
rise to popularity.
But whether by accident
or design, TRB had
hit on a way to connect
with people who would
become firm followers.
They made leaflets
and flyers about their
political views and
sent them to everyone
who attended their
gigs. They gave away
badges and made up
T shirts with the
band's clenched fist
logo. And they played
regularly at benefits
for the popular Rock
Against Racism organization,
where their lyric
themes fit like they
were meant to. In
short order, the band
had a huge following.
Says Tom: "As
a broke, gay guitarist
scratching a living
on the fringes of
the music business,
I inhaled deeply.
Our band nailed its
flag to the mast of
minority rights and
set sail across the
London pub circuit."
Not
that it was as cynical
as that may sound;
Tom clearly had personal
reason to believe
in a lot of what he
was singing about,
and the band really
did care about the
causes they sang about.
But, as he continues,
"Like all political
pop, involvement with
Rock Against Racism
was always a double
edged sword. It was
impossible to know
if you were exploiting
your popstar status
to further human rights,
or merely exploiting
human rights to further
your popstar status."
After the "Motorway"
single, their next
record was a four
song EP called Rising
Free. Recorded live
at London's Lyceum
Theatre in November
of 1977, it contained
the songs "Glad
To Be Gay", "Right
On Sister", "Don't
Take No For An Answer"
and "Martin".
Now the gloves were
off - the first two
tracks were blatantly
political blasts that
touched to the center
of white male values,
and while "Don't
Take No" is actually
about Tom's difficulties
with Davies, its atmosphere
has more than a faint
whiff of tear gas
fumes from riot police
about it - the song
just rips and is one
of the three or four
very best TRB tracks.
"Martin"
on the other hand,
is a lighthearted
pub song that just
happens to feature
stealing cars, beating
up police, and getting
sent to jail for it.
The crowd can't help
joining in. "Right
On Sister" got
panned by many critics
for being too heavy
handed, and while
I agree that Tom certainly
sounds more credible
singing "Glad
To Be Gay" than
leading cheers at
a woman's rally, if
NOW played music with
this kind of energy
at their meetings,
I'd show up more often
myself. Danny Kustow's
leads on this song
simply torch the place.
The EP reached #18
in the UK singles
charts.
In early 1978, TRB
finally recorded their
debut album, Power
In The Darkness. With
former Sex Pistols
producer Chris Thomas
at the board, they
achieved a dense and
meaty sound that has
the same explosive
rhythm feel to it
as Never Mind The
Bollocks Here's The
Sex Pistols. Tom's
vocals and lyrics
are on a less primal
level than the Pistols,
but his anger is close
to a match for Johnny
Rotten's. The big
difference is in Kustow's
more piercing guitar
sound and Ambler's
huge organ washes,
which have no counterpart
in the Pistols. The
UK version of the
LP contained all new
songs, but in the
US (on the Harvest
label), the "Motorway"
single and "Rising
Free" record
were combined for
a six-track bonus
EP that made the album
almost a double. What
the US version lacked,
however, was the bonus
stencil designed for
spray painting the
TRB clenched fist
logo all over your
city. Apparently,
Harvest was not convinced
that the little notice
on the stencil telling
people that it was
not meant for use
on public property
would protect them
from American lawyers
as well as it shielded
EMI from their British
counterparts.
With the exception
of "Grey Cortina"
(another car song)
all the new tracks
were what Robinson
called "street
fighting songs".
In a June 1978 Trouser
Press interview, Robinson
said that the key
songs on the album
were the title track
and "The Winter
of '79". These
are both fine songs,
but the killers for
me are "Long
Hot Summer" and
"Up Against The
Wall". These
two both have a lyric
fury that's matched
by the musical assault.
The messages are simpler
than on the songs
Tom chose, but that's
what makes them so
effective; nothing
at all subtle.
The lyric story of
"The Winter Of
'79" may sound
a little contrived
today; when it was
written it was a hypothetical
look backwards in
time at events that
seemed quite well
within the realm of
possibility in England's
then crumbling society.
But the fact that
clamping down on the
poor during the Thatcher
years seems to have
gotten the country
through doesn't lessen
the despair that many
people had in those
times and which Robinson
captured in words
so well. In addition
to looking at the
political turmoil,
there is still a place
for the human side
of things, as the
song announces "Spurs
beat Arsenal, what
a game! The blood
was running in the
drain." Because
soccer, after all,
is as important to
British youth as rioting.
By now Robinson had
developed the knack
of writing songs that
contained a sort of
a miniature of class
struggle; kind of
like condensing Doctor
Zhivago to a 3 minute
pop song. On "Power
In The Darkness"
(written after Robinson
got a pamphlet in
the mail urging him
to vote Nazi in the
next election) he
takes a cue from Peter
Sellers and acts out
both sides of the
struggle; first singing
the call to arms and
then filling the role
of the apparently
reasonable evening
news announcer.
Although the band
would record another
LP and continue on
for two more years,
it was at this point
where things peaked.
Power In The Darkness
reached number 4 in
the UK charts and
ultimately won the
band a gold record.
TRB were voted Best
New Band and Best
London Band for the
year 1977 by listeners
at the Capital Radio
Music Awards, but
going forward the
band began the gradual
disintegration that
seems to hit all good
groups. The first
marker on the road
to ruin was that right
after the album was
recorded, Mark Ambler
left the band. "Actually",
Tom says now, "You
could date the band's
decline from exactly
that point. Bowing
to pressure for Mark
to leave was definitely
my first fatal mistake.
The circle was broken."
With tours lined up
to support the record,
a new keyboardist
was needed quickly.
Session pianist Nick
Plytas agreed to step
in as a temporary
replacement. He played
with TRB at a major
Anti Nazi League rally
in London's Victoria
Park that spring and
can be heard with
the band on a live
radio concert that
was taped at The Old
Waldorf in San Francisco
in the summer of 1978.
(The unreleased bonus
track "Sidecar"
on this album comes
from that show).
But by now, TRB were
primed for a critical
backlash. As Tom said
later: "Especially
in England, you can't
be that self-righteous
without pissing someone
off. For as long as
the hits keep happening
the media put up with
it, but (like sharks)
once they scent blood
in the water they
move in for the kill.
We'd had just two
hit singles and a
maelstrom of media
hype*. And after "set
em up" comes
"knock 'em down"
and TRB's fall from
critical grace was
unusually rapid and
savage, even by Melody
Maker standards. More
hits might have made
this easier to bear,
but where our first
album had been written
over four years, the
followup now had to
be delivered in four
months. Managers,
publishers, publicists,
record companies,
even our road crew
now depended on us
coming up with the
next hit."
But writing another
hit was easier said
than done. Much later,
Robinson recalled
that a left wing activist
named Blair Peach
had died in police
custody at the time.
"Cynics in the
music business were
saying "I'll
bet Tom Robinson will
write a song to cash
in on that",
while at the same
time I got letters
which began: "Dear
comrade, why have
you not yet written
a song to protest
at the murder of Blair
Peach."
An additional difficulty
in maintaining the
credibility of the
whole picture was
that Tom was just
too damn nice. Sure,
he sang about rights
and justice and making
the place better,
but we've gotten used
to our leftist revolutionaries
being pretty stiff
and self righteous,
and then here's Tom
Robinson admitting
(in a song, no less)
that he really wants
a hot car to go cruising
in. Some revolutionary,
huh!
So with this as a
backdrop and 23 half-written
songs, the band now
headed for Rockfield
Studios in Wales with
Ian Parker who had
joined as a permanent
replacement for Mark
Ambler. Once again
they were working
with Chris Thomas,
and laid down some
basic tracks with
him. Recalls Tom:
"Actually we
could easily have
made the whole album
in the time we had
available; it was
power games, untogetherness,
laziness and in-fighting
that stopped us making
the album there and
then with Chris that
summer. He kept saying
"I'm going fishing"
and walking out of
the studio 'cos he
was so pissed off
with it. We were at
Rockfield Studios
out in the country.
And that's exactly
what he used to do
- pick up his rod
and line and go fishing
anytime we were untogether
in the studio."
The only useable recording
to come out of the
Chris Thomas sessions
was a backing track
with unfinished lyrics
called "Suits
Me, Suits You".
15 years later Robinson
subsequently completed
the song in his home
studio - the track
is included in this
collection for the
first time. An Autumn
tour made further
recording impossible
before Christmas -
and Dolphin Taylor
now suggested Todd
Rundgren should replace
Thomas as producer.
But there were more
problems.
Tom
says: ""However
levelheaded you start
out, if enough people
flatter you for long
enough, some part
of you ends up believing
it. Overnight we all
turned into experts.
I began telling Dolphin
how to play drums,
and he started telling
me how to write songs.
Everyone's ego ran
out of control - especially
mine." After
bickering about the
material, the members
eventually agreed
to let Rundgren choose
which songs would
be on the LP. But
when he picked two
of the songs Dolphin
particularly disliked,
Taylor decided that
he would leave rather
than play on the tracks.
In fact, a day later
he offered to return
but Robinson refused
- "My second
fatal mistake"
he now calls it. "A
band like TRB should
have been all for
one and one for all,
as a point of general
principle, whatever
our disagreements."
Again, a hired hand
was recruited as an
emergency stand-in.
"Preston Heyman
was an expensive London
session drummer",
says Tom. "He
was only booked to
play on the album
and paid by the day.
His pic was included
on the sleeve to make
it look more bandlike,
but he never intended
to stay."
When it finally was
ready the new album
was good, but it wasn't
the classic that the
first one had been.
Without Taylor's dynamic
drumming, the attack
was lost. Some of
the songs still roar
along with that old
intensity ("All
Right All Night"
and "Days Of
Rage" being the
prime examples), and
others provide some
pretty gripping lyric
content, but no one
song really merged
the two aspects together
as on the first album.
Robinson collaborated
with Peter Gabriel
in writing "Bully
For You", which
was released as a
single - and several
songs included a gospel-like
backing vocal section
that worked pretty
neatly. "Sorry
Mr. Harris" has
a fairly laid back
and funky feel, but
tells a harrowing
story of a police
interrogation with
Tom singing the role
of the investigator
- perfectly reasonable
but also perfectly
willing to kill someone
if required.
"Let My People
Be" puts Tom
in the role of a Latin
American subversive
(well before the Clash
put out Sandinista),
and has a nice soulful
feel to it. And although
the lyrics to "All
Right All Night"
are a little shallow,
the overall song is
pretty anthemic and
easy to sing along
with, while the same
can be said for the
strong effort on "Days
Of Rage".
However Rundgren's
production pushed
Kustow's guitar back
in the mix, and the
sound was more keyboard
oriented. According
to Tom, "Danny
shrank more and more
from playing, the
more alienated he
felt - he'd say stuff
like "Oh, why
doesn't Ian play a
solo on this one".
Danny's at his best
when 100% emotionally
committed to the song
he's playing."
As a result the songs
had to stand on the
lyrics rather more
than was good for
them and reviews were
correspondingly mixed.
Taylor was a great
drummer - and his
eventual replacement
was another session
musician - Charlie
Morgan who had played
for Kate Bush, and
went on to drum for
Elton John for a further
fifteen years. To
support the album's
release, the band
hit the road and reached
North America where
I was lucky enough
to see them play in
San Diego in early
May. After the opening
act, a group of guys
comes down the center
aisle of the theatre,
each carrying a case
of beer. They peeled
off cans and tossed
them to the folks
in the crowd, me going
- hey, what's this?
Then they jumped up
on the stage, grabbed
their instruments,
and ripped into their
set and despite no
Dolphin and no Mark
Ambler, this was one
hell of a great band
on a very hot night.
By now my memories
of this gig may have
inflated out of all
proportion, but I
do know that at the
time my impression
was that I had never
seen anything to compare
with it. The buzz
I got from that show
has only been approached
rarely since then
- one of those gigs
where you go home
and dream about seeing
the band and you keep
recreating the gig
in your imagination
for weeks afterwards.
Robinson was the consummate
showman; not in some
Mick Jagger preening
sort of way, but because
he somehow made everyone
feel like they had
been his best friend
for years.
They played the bulk
of the material from
both TRB TWO and Power
In The Darkness. And
then when the show
finally ended and
the band couldn't
play another encore,
Robinson came back
out on stage and said
"Look, I've talked
to the promoter and
he says we only sold
about 10 tickets to
the second show, so
if you all want to
stay, you're welcome
to." So we did.
I dragged myself home
at 2:30 AM, blissfully
happy and not caring
if I was going to
be late to work the
next morning.
At this point, though,
TRB were pretty nearly
finished. They were
hardly a band anymore
- no longer a bunch
of guys who got together
and built something
up, but instead it
was Tom and Danny
and two hired guns.
This kind of situation
is rarely stable,
and when Kustow decided
it wasn't working,
the whole thing fell
apart. Robinson had
always been a bit
of an omnivore when
it came to music.
Just as the band was
ending he teamed with
Elton John to write
the disco song "Never
Gonna Fall In Love
Again" which
was released as a
solo single - although
like the flip "Getting
Tighter" it was
actually recorded
with TRB. Both songs
are included on this
album.
In Trouser Press Tom
described the end
of TRB. "I have
two principle reasons
to be grateful to
Danny Kustow. One
is for joing TRB when
he did and the other
is for leaving TRB
when he did. When
he finally said "Look
- this is a joke,
we're just going through
the motions"
I was very upset and
tried to get him to
stay. But when finally
I gave in and called
it a day, it woke
me up like a bucket
of cold water. I'd
just been carrying
on with TRB because
it was there."
In 1989, Robinson,
Kustow and Ambler
put together a reunion
tour and played sold
out shows at the Marquee
in London and went
on for the best part
of a year before splitting
acrimoniously one
final time. A posthumous
live album called
"The Winter of
'89" was released
and then widely bootlegged
under the title of
"Motorway"
- a release from which
the band have never
received royalties.
The songs that work
best are the opening
"Number One Protection"
and "We Didn't
Know What Was Going
On" - neither
of which were in the
original recorded
works of TRB. These
songs are likewise
included on this edition
of TRB TWO.
So that concludes
the story. A brilliant
career, way too short,
but perhaps no longer
than it could possibly
have been expected
to be. Why it is that
today TRB are almost
never mentioned as
one of the classic
punk bands of 76-78
is beyond me. There
was nothing the Clash
or Jam had that this
band couldn't match
in its day. "Yeah,
posterity hasn't been
too kind to TRB",
says Robinson. "It's
a kind of Stalinist
revisionism on the
part of the UK press,
which I think then
sets the tone worldwide."
"By
the end of 1978 our
picture had been on
the front cover of
Melody Maker seven
times... A year later
they ran a month-long
review of The Seventies
In Perspective in
which TRB was not
mentioned once, anywhere,
not even in passing. But
hey, it's just showbiz.
Things coulda been
better but they coulda
been a damn sight
worse." Maybe
everybody just forgot.
Shoulda been there
back in '79.
Adapted from an
article by Steve Gardner
for NKVD Records and Noise For Heroes
Used by kind permission.
